Indonesia to elect a new president, amid fears of violence and security alerts

by Mathias Hariyadi

The election for the successor of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is tomorrow. Polling overseas has ended, with a breakdown in services and allegations of irregularities. Police and soldiers patrol the streets and sensitive areas. Religious leaders launch appeals for calm and urge people to vote responsibly. Catholic bishops say the Church is neutral, but most faithful support Jokowi, a guarantor of freedom.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Amid fears of possible violence, imposing
security measures to prevent any outbreak of tension, accusations of fraud in overseas polling and
last minute pre-election polls, the vigil of tomorrow's Presidential elections
in Indonesia is tense.

On July 9, the duo formed by the governor of Jakarta Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Deputy Jusuf
Kalla, former number
two of the current President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono's first term (favorites
to date) will face former Gen. Prabowo Subianto and
his deputy Hatta Radjasa. Analysts and policy
experts speak of "historic"
elections for the future of the nation, its
economy, to the balance of domestic
power and the balance between ethnic and religious groups in the most populous Muslim country in the world.

Overseas voting has concluded, although the official results
will only be announced once the polls have closed at home.
Early exit poll results
are conflicting: according
to a first sample of voters the duo led by outgoing governor of Jakarta are clearly ahead
with a broad consensus among
migrant workers. A second institute, however, gives victory, albeit with lower margins, to the Subianto-Rajasa duo. Optimism
prevails in both camps which tend to comment on the poll
that favor their respective candidate.

However, the overseas polling has also raised the first controversies of
the election; in Hong Kong a thousand migrant
workers could not vote because they turned up to polling stations
after 5 pm, the deadline set by local authorities to exercise their right. Local sources also report that some people - unidentified -
promised citizens excluded from voting that they would be able
to express a preference, as long as they voted for Subianto. This sparked immediate protests in Indonesia, particularly among electoral committees in support of Jokowi.

Despite this, the issue of security and sectarian tensions are the main
focus on the eve of the ballot. A high state of alert has been in vigor for days among
police and military officers and soldiers have
been deployed in the most strategic points at risk in major
cities. Appeals for calm and
the regular carrying out of elections are
also coming from the outgoing
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the main religious
leaders.

In an unexpected move, yesterday, Yudhoyono
invited the most important Muslim and
Christian leaders (Catholics and Protestants), for closed-door meetings at the
presidential palace dedicated to the election,
to avoid any kind of mess. The president the leader of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the
President of the Synod of the Protestant
Churches (PGI) and the chairman
of the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), Msgr. Ignatius Suharyo, the
current archbishop of Jakarta all met with the president for
discussions.

The MUI leader expressed concern about possible clashes between the respective
supporters of the two candidates.
In contrast, the president of the
bishops confirmed the neutrality
of the Catholic leadership - even if there are priests
who have openly expressed support for one of the two pairs of candidates - and reiterated
that all the faithful will exercise
their right to vote according to their
conscience. The Jesuit priest Fr.
Franz Magnis Suseno, a well-known academic, has also expressed
concern that a victory Subianto would give new
vigor to the Islamist fringe
and seriously endanger freedom of religion in the country; supporters of the former general immediately responded
by inviting the Catholic leader not
to get involved in politics and to avoid
fomenting provocations or divisions within society.

In terms of preferences, even the two main moderate Muslim
movements - the
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah -
confirmed their neutrality and impartiality. However, there are individual local religious leaders - imams and ulema
- that could significantly
affect the outcome
of the vote, by influencing their
community. In recent weeks there has
also been a smear
campaign against Jokowi, accused of being a Christian (in reality he is a moderate Muslim, who had chosen a Christian as deputy in Jakarta), a descendant of Chinese ethnicity and a member of the Communist Party. A campaign which, despite having calmed
somewhat, has (partially) eroded his consensus.

Personal use of the contents of this website is permitted for non-commercial purposes only. The reproduction, publication, sale and distribution of the contents of the website can only take place prior to an agreement with the publisher.
The photos on AsiaNews.it are taken largely from the Internet and therefore considered to be in the public domain. If the subjects or authors are opposed to thier use for publication purposes, they are requested to notify the editorial staff who will promptly remove the images used.